>> as the days go on, it's hard to keep that hope. >> norah: hurricane helene becomes one of the deadliest to hit the united states this century. tonight, president biden visits the devastation. >> the nation has your back. >> norah: and the new investigation into a tennessee factory after workers were trapped and swept away. israel vows to respond to iran's missile attack as violence erupts in lebanon. we get a firsthand look at the destruction across the middle east. and the breaking news just

released. never-before-seen evidence in the 2020 election interference case against donald trump. what's inside the 165-page filing? [chanting "stop the steal"] the "cbs evening news" starts now. ♪ ♪ good evening, and thank you for joining us on this wednesday. and we begin with breaking news a bombshell court filing just unsealed in the 2020 election case against former president donald trump. in it, special counsel jack smith argues that trump resorted to crimes after losing the election to joe biden. the case had been thrown into doubt when the supreme court ruled that a president can't be prosecuted for official acts. smith is claiming trump's actions were taken in a private capacity as a candidate. the filing, which runs 165 pages and has a lot of names reacted also details trump actions on january 6th, when thousands of his supporters stormed the capitol as congress was certifying the election. and it claims trump tried to

advance his own self interests and perpetuate himself in power contrary to the will of the people. cbs's scott macfarlane has the new details. >> reporter: the special counsel alleges former president donald trump resorted to crimes, focusing in particular on trump's alleged interactions with then-vice president mike pence who had refused trump's insistence he stop the electoral certification on january 6th. throughout the 165-page filing smith makes the case trump was acting as a candidate or private citizen, not as president when he was claiming the election was stolen. >> the special prosecutor is trying to establish that, as evidence shows, this was all private conduct that is charged here, and therefore, immunity sweeping immunity provided by the supreme court in its decision this summer, does not apply. >> reporter: when told pence's life was in danger, according to the filing, trump responded by saying, "so what?" trump allies sought to create chaos, including one unnamed trump supporter shortly after the election, encouraging

protests, even to make them riot. the filing says at least nine times in the days after the election pence tried to convince trump to give up his fight to prevent the certification saying he could run again next cycle. trump allegedly replied, "2024 is so far off." smith tries to make the case trump was acting as a candidate not as president, when he claimed the election was stolen. pence had testify to the grand jury that first charged trump in this case last year. trump's campaign responded to this saying the special counsel's argument was unconstitutional and falsehood-ridden. this case, if it survives, will not go to trial before the election, norah, not likely until 2025 at the earliest. >> norah: scott macfarlane with those new details, thank you very much. there's devastating news from the southeast tonight. helene is now the second deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland this century, only behind hurricane katrina. 181 people are confirmed dead across six states and hundreds are still missing.

people are desperate for answers about loved ones they haven't heard from and desperate for basic necessities like drinkable, running water and power. and president biden saw the scope of the devastation first-hand as he flew over the north carolina flood zone today after ordering 1,000 active-duty troops to the state to bolster national guard operations, while the vice president visited georgia. we have two reports, beginning with cbs's skyler henry in asheville, north carolina. >> reporter: it is astounding the scope of helene's path of destruction, especially in western north carolina, and today... >> the united states, the nation has your back. >> reporter: president biden got a firsthand look flying over a region where roads have washed away and basic needs like food and water are in short supply. while floodwaters may have receded, the level of desperation keeps rising. >> in a moment like this, we put politics aside. and our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can. >> reporter: that includes the

search for the hundreds still missing. what's that process been like in terms of working with search and rescue crews? >> yeah. very painful. you know, it's just like you know, we have these first responders who are working so hard, and, you know, they all live here, too. >> i can't overstate how much worse this is than anything that's ever, ever happened. it's catastrophic. >> reporter: in this once-vibrant, now-devastated river arts section of asheville the 12 bones smokehouse once drew throngs of barbecue lovers including former president obama. owner bryan king says it is not just the physical damage. helen's emotional toll is staggering. >> yar crying, just happy that they are okay. and so, yeah, it's just... the whole thing is just unimaginable. >> reporter: since we have been in asheville today, some progress. communication services have improved and power is back on in

certain parts of the city. and this roadway, which was at one point covered with rushing floodwaters, is now back open in both directions. utility crews are working to restore what they can as quickly as possible. norah? >> norah: we are thinking and praying for all of the people affected by the storm. skyler henry, thank you so much. and tonight, the tennessee bureau of investigation is looking into possible crimes after a horrific tragedy. workers at a plastics factory were swept away by floodwaters from helene. some were rescued, others died or are still missing. cbs's manuel bojorquez reports from erwin, tennessee. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: this is video robert jarvis took last friday as water started to rise outside the tennessee plastics factory where he worked. >> like in 3 minutes it went from here to about here. >> reporter: despite the threat of flooding, jarvis said his manager initially told employees they cannot leave. he said it wasn't until the plant lost power and the water kept rising they were finally told to go home.

what were the conditions like? >> it was water up to my waist. and everybody was in pure panic mode, not knowing what to do. we are looking for instructions on how to get out of here. we had no evacuation plan whatsoever. >> reporter: six of his coworkers are missing after a truck they were in tipped over in the raging floodwaters. one employee has been confirmed dead. others say they survived for hours by clinging to these yellow spools manufactured at the factory until they were rescued, according to local reports. >> innocent people, they shouldn't have died, died. i mean, these people were like my family. we worked together every day. and i just, it was senseless. >> reporter: in a statement impact plastics said, "at no time where employees told that they would be fired if they left the facility." the fact that the company has said no one was told they couldn't leave. >> that's a lie. that's a lie. they just left us to die. >> reporter: five days after the flooding and family members

of the missing were furious today, demanding answers about the search and asking whether they could join the search themselves. but officials say it is far too dangerous, and tonight at least one major highway and several roads remain closed. norah? >> norah: manny bojorquez with that powerful interview. thank you, manny. well, tonight, new violence in the middle east, a massive explosion rocked beirut a short time ago. at this moment, it is not clear what the target was, but even before this blast, lebanon's government said israeli air strikes had killed 46 people just today, and this comes as israeli leaders are weighing their options for military response to yesterday's ballistic missile attack by iran. we have team coverage from the middle east, as it careens toward a wider war, beginning with cbs's chris livesay in tel aviv. good evening, chris. >> reporter: good evening norah. his rosh hashanah, the start of the jewish new year tonight, but as israelis celebrate, tensions are boiling over iran's huge missile strikes last night and how israel will respond. of the nearly 200 missiles fired

by iran, israeli defenses shot down almost all of them. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: not without the help of u.s. destroyers based in the eastern mediterranean. but some missiles did get through. >> no! >> reporter: like the one that smashed this car, leaving twisted metal and a massive crater in this residential area outside tel aviv. the israeli military has vowed to strike back. "we have the capabilities to reach any point in the middle east," said the head of the armed forces. "our enemies, who have not understood this yet, will soon understand." that message being carried across the northern border today. israeli military video shows troops advancing through the mountains of southern lebanon and entering villages, as it announced close quarter fighting with hezbollah and the deaths of eight soldiers. thousands more are being sent as part of what the israeli military is calling a limited ground operation that is expanding in scope by the day. >> reporter: i'm imtiaz tyab

in the southern beirut suburb of dahieh. the seat of hezbollah's power. some areas now in ruins. overnight, israeli air strikes targeted dahieh relentlessly. some buildings now totally obliterated. the scale of the devastation caused by this israeli air strike is just breathtaking. this was an entire building. now completely gone. and all that's left is this massive crater. this once-bustling suburb is now a ghost town. we were only given access as part of a large media tour. organized by the militant group following the group following the assassination of its leader hassan nasrallah. at one point this man yells "we will not surrender. we follow nasrallah." only a few residents remain. we met this man who said "we are all nasrallah, so if israel is fighting one person they are now fighting the entire nation." but in gaza, another bloody night.

at least 80 palestinians were killed in multiple israeli strikes. any hopes of a cease-fire seem a long way off. the fear now is the humanitarian catastrophe in gaza is on its way here to lebanon, where the death toll from israeli strikes continues to skyrocket and as presidnt biden's appeals for a cease-fire falls on deaf ears. norah? >> norah: imtiaz tyab thank you for your reporting. toay, the candidates for vice president were back on the campaign trail one day after facing off in our cbs news debate. one memorable exchange is already being used in a campaign ad. more now from cbs's robert costa. >> reporter: senator j.d. vance hit the ground running in michigan today. >> and it is great to be in the state that i think is going to be pivotal to giving us 270 electoral votes and making donald trump the next president

of the united states. >> reporter: his vp rival governor tim walz launched a bus tour in battleground pennsylvania. >> anybody watch the debate last night? [cheers and applause] not bad for a football coach. >> reporter: just as the harris campaign unveiled a new ad. >> he is still saying he didn't lose the election. >> reporter: highlighting this exchange at tuesday night's debate. >> did he lose the 2020 election? >> tim, i'm focused on the future. did kamala harris censor americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 covid situation? >> that is a damning nonanswer. >> reporter: vance was asked today about why he declined to engage walz's question. >> here is the simple reason. the media is obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago. i'm focused on the election of 33 days from now. >> it is disqualifying to not acknowledge that the 2020 election was won by joe biden. it's as simple as that. >> reporter: a new cbs poll found viewers saw the debate as a pretty even match up. it was a mostly civil showdown with moments of midwestern nice. >> i actually agree with tim walz. >> i agree with a lot of what

senator vance said. >> reporter: but there was still plenty of clashes over the campaign stop issues, including the economy. >> we will just ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share. >> you've got to pretend that donald trump didn't deliver rising take-home pay, which of course he did. >> reporter: and on reproductive rights, both campaigns made appeals. >> this is about health care. >> reporter: with senator vance acknowledging republicans have work to do. >> we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the american people's trust back on this issue where they frankly just don't trust us. >> reporter: at this supply plant in michigan today senator vance was upbeat and his supporters praised him for his turn at the debate, but privately, many top democrats told me governor walz did what he needed them to do. he brought issues like character and democracy to the fore of this campaign. norah? >> norah: robert costa on the campaign trail tonight. thank you, robert. a dangerous plume of smoke could be headed for a big city. look at this. we've got the details when we come back. ♪ ♪ tails when we come back. ♪ ♪ got the details

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times, as recently as january of this year. a california doctor charged in connection with the death of matthew perry pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute ketamine. dr. marc chavez is the third person to admit wrongdoing in the death of the "friends" star last year. a medical examiner said the primary cause of death was an overdose of ketamine, which the federal government lists as a controlled substance. "eye on america" is next. they just look like real guns. why they are making the streets more dangerous. ♪ ♪ why they are making the streets more dangerous. ♪ ♪ so when i had carpal tunnel syndrome, lower back pain, and shortness of breath, i thought that's what getting older felt like. thank goodness... ...i called my cardiologist. i have attr-cm, a rare but serious disease... ...and getting diagnosed early... ...made a difference. if you have any of these warning signs, don't wait, ask your cardiologist about attr-cm today.

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♪ ♪ >> norah: tonight, we want to dig deeper into a story we first reported on in june. that's when a police officer in upstate new york shot and killed a teenager who was carrying a replica gun. an estimated 12 million bb guns were sold in the u.s. last year a number that is projected to nearly double in the next few years, and of course many of them look like real guns.

in tonight's "eye on america," anna werner shows us how that is making the job of police officers more challenging. >> reporter: in late june in utica, new york, police shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who had run from them and wound up in a struggle with an officer on the ground. the teen was holding what police thought was a handgun. >> it's a .22. >> reporter: it was only later at the station, police say, that they discovered the gun wasn't a real firearm, but a pellet gun. utica police chief mark williams told us he can't talk about the officer's actions because they are under investigation. but he did want to talk about what the gun industry refers to as replica guns. >> they look like the exact same weapon, firearm, as a glock. >> reporter: those replica guns fire small metal pellets or bbs. in decades past, many replicas were plastic and advertised as

toys. but now, many replica and even toy guns can be indistinguishable from regular firearms. >> it's a challenge because they look so real. >> reporter: jim balthazar teaches on police use of force for the atf. >> it looks so real that officers are going to have to react as if it is a real gun. >> reporter: this is the kind of pellet gun police say the teen in utica was carrying, a look-alike for a 9-millimeter glock handgun, made by company umarex under a license from glock. if it were a toy gun, federal regulations would require a bright orange tip, but pellet guns are exempt. we wanted to know how that pellet gun and the real firearm compare when held by a person so we set up a camera to get the head-on view with no one standing behind it for safety along with a side view. here is the first gun. now the second. balthazar says even he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. >> i think it would be superhuman to be able to tell the difference in the midst of an interaction with a suspect

certainly on the street. >> reporter: it just looks too real? >> it looks too real. if you think you can tell the difference, would you bet your life on it? >> reporter: the result of many interactions between police and people holding replica guns has been death. in the past decade, more than 300 people nationwide have been killed. and lindsay nichols, with the giffords law center, blames the gun industry. >> they are the ones profiting off this. they are the ones who knew, they know that these guns can be mistaken for real guns. >> reporter: in fact, a warning in fine print tells users, "do not brandish or display it in public," "police and others may think it is a firearm." laws in 23 states and the district of columbia restrict possession or sales of those guns, yet those replicas seem easy to get. >> wow. >> reporter: we found numerous listings on facebook marketplace that appeared to be selling pellet guns, unidentified toy guns, or mystery guns, often in violation of facebook on a meta's policy. facebook remove those listings after we asked about them but

claimed to us in a statement that its systems automatically remove over 98% of problem listings. >> and if they weren't many factored in the first place they wouldn't end up on facebook. >> reporter: gun manufacturers including clock and pellet gun maker umarex did not respond to our multiple requests for comment. but back in utica, chief of police mark williams says... >> i hold them responsible. what they are basically doing is you endanger lives. >> reporter: in the past ten years, at least 19 children who had replica guns were shot and killed in interactions with police. for "eye on america," i'm anna werner. >> norah: an important story. and now this. she's not old enough to vote but that's not stopping a young artist from having her say on election day. that's next.

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norah, thank you, here in the bay area, triple digit heat, no air-conditioning. >> wet towels do help. >> these heatwaves. i am, i am done with them. >> we join a volunteer as she makes house calls for seniors suffering through heatwaves all alone. >> we are not done yet. another way day tomorrow. heat warnings extended the other day and the weekend is looking hot as well. details in the forecast. we heard from victim's

families. >> they will rally and support. >> these are victim's families coming after the alameda da for her soft on crime approach. why a u.s. congressman is the latest to join them oh, my gosh. >> no, way! >> the viral incidents involving waymo putting a new spotlight on passenger safety. good evening, well, it is a heatwave. look at that, the colors tell the story. the story of another day of red hot temperatures around the bay area. thank you for joining us at 7:00. the temperatures will be sticking around longer. paul heggen is here to break it all down. he matched the excessive heat warning. >> we will look forward to the time that our